Some Thoughts on Prayer
The Cure of Ars on Prayer:
"All who have become saints have frequented the sacraments and uplifted their souls to God through prayer. Man has the beautiful mission of prayer and loving...we pray and love, and this forms our happiness here on earth. Although we deserved to be deprived of prayer, God in His goodness permitted us to talk to Him. Our prayer is an incense which He welcomes with infinite pleasure. God does not need us. Hence, if He commands us to pray, it is because He desires us to be happy, and we cannot find this happiness except in prayer. Be convinced that the Christian's treasure is not upon this earth, but in heaven. Therefore, our thought must go to rest there where our treasure lies. Those who do not pray bend themselves down to the earth as does the mole, which seeks to make a hole in which to hide itself. They are all of this earth; they have become like beasts and they think only of the things of this world.
You have a narrow heart, but prayer will enlarge it and enable it to love God. Prayer is a prelude to heaven, an emanation of paradise. It never leaves us deprived of sweetness, for it is like honey flowing into the soul and sweetening everything. Sufferings melt as snow melts under the rays of the sun, when one prays well."
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Church:
O the happiness of the heavenly alleluia, sung in security, in fear of no adversity! We shall have no enemies in heaven, we shall never lose a friend. God's praises are sung both there and here, but here they are sung in anxiety, there in security; here they are sung by those destined to die, there, by those destined to live forever; here they are sung in hope, there, in hope's fulfillment; here they are sung by wayfarers, there, by those living in their own country. So then, my brothers, let us sing now, not in order to enjoy a life of leisure, but in order to lighten our labors. You should sing as wayfarers do sing, but continue your journey. Do not be lazy, but sing to make your journey more enjoyable. Sing, but keep going. What do I mean by keep going? Keep on making progress. This progress must be in virtue; for there are some, the Apostle warns, whose only progress is in vice. If you make progress, you will be continuing your journey, but be sure that your progress is in virtue, true faith, and right living. Sing then -- but keep going."
From a Treatise on Prayer by Tertullian, priest:
"...We pray in spirit, and so offer in spirit the sacrifice of prayer. We must dedicate this offering with our whole heart, we must fatten it on faith, tend it by truth, keep it unblemished through innocence, clean it thoroughly through chastity, and crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God. Since God asks for prayer offered in spirit and truth, how can He deny anything to this kind of prayer? How great is the evidence of its power, as we read, hear, and believe!
Of old, prayer was able to rescue from fire and beasts, and hunger, even before it received its perfection from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer. No longer does prayer bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or close up the mouths of lions, or transport the hungry food from the fields. No longer does it remove all sense of pain by the grace it wins for others. But it gives the armor of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed. It strengthens the power of grace, so that faith may know what it is gaining from the Lord, and understand what it is suffering for the name of God.
In the past, prayer was able to bring down punishment, rout armies, withhold the blessing of rain. Now, however, the prayer of the just turns aside the whole anger of God, keeps vigil for its enemies, pleads for persecutors. Is it any wonder that it can call down water from heaven when it could obtain fire from heaven as well? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil, and has given it all power over good."